The U.S. and Israel have launched air strikes on Iran with President Donald Trump saying “major combat operations” are underway.
There were reports of blasts in Tehran and Iran, with people seen running in the streets in panic.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said it had launched retaliatory missile and drone strikes towards Israel, amid reports that the country had also hit Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Bahrain and Kuwait.
TV and radio networks broke into their normal programming across the world as a chaotic picture of the U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran and retaliatory blasts across the Gulf started to take shape.
Trump announced the operations in an eight-minute video statement released at 2.30am ET, in which he said the aim was “to crush’ Iran’s military and “eliminate its nuclear program” as well as bring about a change in government.
“Our objective is to defend the American people by eliminating imminent threats from the Iranian regime, a vicious group of very hard, terrible people,” he said. “Its menacing activities directly endanger the United States, our troops, our bases overseas and our allies throughout the world.”
The U.S. president also called on the Iranian people, who have been subjected to a harsh crackdown against pro-democracy protests in recent weeks, to “take over.”
Initial U.S. and Iran targets are reported to have been Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, with reports of missiles hitting an area near his presidential palace, as well as key military installations.
The 86-year-old Ayatollah Khamenei, who has been Iran’s Supreme Leader since 1989, succeeding the Islamic Republic’s late founder, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, is reported to be in hiding and is not believed to be in Tehran.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also issued a statement on Saturday, saying that the aim was to remove the Islamic Republic regime from power.
The operation “will create the conditions for the brave Iranian people to take their destiny into their own hands,” he said.
“The time has come for all sections of the people in Iran… to remove the yoke of tyranny… and bring a free and peace-loving Iran,” he added.
